One Bad Day
by otherhawk
Summary: One bad day can lead to a lot of consequences
1. Cause

**A/N: So as most of you probably know, me and InSilva are planning on posting a fic a day between us from now until Christmas An Advent Calendar of O11 fic, if you will. And this, right here, is where it begins. Thought I'd start within something moderately painful. There's more painful to come. On my list, anyway. Can't speak for InSilva's. She won't tell me. She's _meeeeean._**

__**A/N2:**** This is the first part of a twoshot. And yes, the second part is indeed going to be behind a future advent calendar door. But I will not tell you which one! Mwahahahahaha! **

**A/N3: Also, season's greetings and all that.  
**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own O11 **

* * *

The con was simple, slick and remarkably enjoyable. If Danny was any less the consummate professional, he had to figure he'd be grinning right now.

It was all straightforward enough. For the past couple of weeks, he and Rusty had been taking it in turns to court Horace Blackthorn, each of them convincing him that they wanted to run the most vicious con on the other.

Not that Horace thought of himself as a con artist. Far as he was concerned, he was a legitimate business man with impeccable instincts who sold risky investments to people who were too stupid to know any better.

Really, Danny thought that the only difference between them and Horace was that _they _unexpectedly had a couple more morals.

But Horace had been delighted to play each of them against the other, safe in his knowledge that he was pulling the wool over their eyes, just waiting for the opportunity to con both of them.

That made it easy. Horace was eager enough to invest some of his own money in order to get his hands on theirs. Probably he'd continue to be eager, right up until the time when he looked round to realise that he'd lost it all.

And this was the last day, and Danny was sitting in the hotel bar with the suitcase of fake cash, laughing at Horace's jokes, talking about the con that he was supposed to be thinking they were supposed to be playing

All he had to do now was wait for Rusty to show up with the contract and the second suitcase, and by tonight, they'd be back home, watching Miami Vice and Danny could tease Rusty about good-looking cops while Rusty watched the fashion sense thoughtfully.

Everything was going according to plan.

A woman's voice rang out above him. "Well, well. What do we have here?"

The voice was familiar. His blood ran cold.

He looked up slowly to see her standing over him, just like he remembered her – tall, dark-haired and beautiful, that rose tattoo on prominent display – with her ever-present slab of muscle standing just behind her.

For a moment he considered denying everything. Or running. Running would be nice...but it wasn't an option.

"Jade Fox," he said, letting the smile across his face. "I have to say I wasn't expecting to see you again."

"I'm sure you weren't, slick," she agreed. "So, shall we get reacquainted?"

* * *

Ten minutes for Danny to listen to Horace's pitch. That was what they'd figured on. And while he was waiting, Rusty was comfortably concealed in the room upstairs. Way he saw it, they'd be done here by half ten and they'd be ten thousand dollars the richer. Maybe it was time for a break after that. This would be their twelfth con in rapid succession. Thirteenth if you counted the thing with Tom Sharkey, which Rusty wasn't absolutely certain he _did._ At any rate they'd been working for two months straight. Maybe he'd suggest to Danny that they had some downtime due.

He glanced at his watch. Showtime. He ran through the play in his head ready to come in with all sorts of subtle conspiratorial looks, apparently designed to go over Danny's head. Horace would like that. Would give him the feeling of superiority he craved.

The plan in his head, he felt ready for anything. Except stepping into the hotel bar to find Horace sitting by himself.

Wildly he glanced around the room as if trying to make Danny appear by force of will, hoping that maybe Danny had just stepped up to the bar or something, and Rusty had overlooked him for the first time in his life. But there was nothing. No Danny.

Horace was just sitting there, completely unperturbed. The man was a terrible actor, and that meant whatever was going on probably wasn't down to him.

He slid into the seat opposite Horace. "Morning," he nodded politely, with a calmness he didn't feel. "Kevin not here yet?"

Horace shrugged. "He was here, but he had to leave suddenly."

Had to leave...? This wasn't making Rusty feel any better. "Yeah? He say why?" Danny walking out on a con without telling him...there were only a couple of reasons why that would happen and none of them were good.

"He bumped into a woman he recognised and left with her," Horace explained. "He said it was business but I'd guess it was something else, if you know what I mean," he finished with a chortle. "Inconvenient for us though...I suppose we'll have to reschedule."

"Suppose so," he agreed. "This woman...what did she look like?" he asked as he felt down the side of the seat.

"Why do you want to know?" Horace asked sharply.

He shrugged. "Just curious." Nothing on the seat. He tried surreptitiously feeling around the floor with his feet.

Horace considered. "Well, she was pretty, I'll give him that. Dark hair, dark eyes, almost six foot...cheap, but dressed expensive. You know the type." Right. Different possibilities tumbled through Rusty's mind. His foot caught on something, and he quickly bent down to grab it, just as Horace added. "Oh, and she had a tattoo on her collar bone. A rose or something."

Jade Fox. Rusty felt like his heart had stopped.

His hand closed over a discarded wallet. Next to it was Danny's cellphone, the screen smashed beyond repair. Danny must have dropped it to the floor, twisted his foot down on it. Just before he followed Jade.

"What have you got there?" Horace asked curiously. "Is that a wallet?"

"Yes," Rusty said, standing up abruptly. "I'd better go hand it into someone."

He heard Horace calling after him, as he walked – ran – off, but he didn't look round. There were far more important things to think about right now.

Front desk and there was a selection of bills in his hand before he even got near. The guy's eyes were immediately fixed on the money. "Can I help you sir?"

"I need to know if someone just left," he said quickly. "Dark haired man. Good-looking. My height. Wearing a dark suit and a white shirt. He'd have been coming from the bar and there'd have been a woman with him. Tall, with long black hair and a rose tattoo on – "

" –yes, I saw them," the guy confirmed eagerly. "They left around five minutes ago."

He thrust the bills blindly in the guy's direction. "Which way did they go?"

"They headed to the parking lot entrance," he said assuredly.

"Thanks," Rusty said quickly turning around. Maybe if he ran he might be able to catch them.

"There was another gentleman with them," the concierge called after him hopefully. "A very large gentleman...I think he was with the lady."

Yeah. Jade never travelled anywhere without an enforcer.

He nodded and ran for the parking lot.

Jade Fox...they'd ran up against her about two years ago, the last time they'd been in Memphis. She'd started out as a money lender, coming up with some pretty creative ways of reminding people who missed their payments. She still kept that side of the business going, but she'd moved into property, renting condemned apartments to the desperate and the illegal, who lived ten to a room and paid well above the odds for the privilege. She also owned a couple of brothels where anything was for sale, no matter how sick and depraved. Rusty had never thought of himself as _naive_ but an hour spent in that place had opened his eyes and left him standing in the shower, desperately trying to scrub away the smell of degradation and cheap perfume.

If there was objectively such a thing as pure evil, Jade Fox was the definition of it. And she had Danny.

The con had been long and involved and at times seemingly impossible. One of Danny's best plans, and together they'd made it _fly,_ and they'd walked away with every last penny Jade owned, and left the more distasteful aspects of her business displayed for the world – and the cops – to see. They'd walked away and Jade's empire had fallen overnight.

She'd never known their names. But she'd seen their faces. And now she'd found Danny.

Oh, God, she had Danny.

He ran into the parking lot and started running between the cars, searching for any sign of movement, any sign that they were still there, that he wasn't too late.

Twenty minutes of frantic searching and he had to accept it.

Danny was gone.

* * *

The car jerked over something hard, and Danny's head bounced off the top of the trunk. He bit his tongue to stifle the cry. He wasn't going to give Jade the satisfaction. Not if he could help it.

Fortunately she hadn't stopped to question why he'd been quite so happy to walk out of the hotel with her. Wasn't because of the guns he knew they were carrying.

Rusty had been due to join him any minute. And Jade would have been just as pleased to see Rusty, and that was never going to happen.

It must have been twenty minutes now...Rusty would have realised he was missing. Would have found Danny's wallet and phone. Would have understood what that meant.

Rusty must be going out of his mind...Danny hoped he knew how sorry he was.

It was hot and stuffy and cramped in the trunk. They'd marched him up to the first car they saw and forced the trunk open.

"Please," Jade had said with a smile. "Get in."

Danny had looked from the trunk to her. "You sure you want to go with the first car on the lot? The one over there looks like it has much more trunk space."

She smiled and suddenly there was a knife in her hand and she brushed the flat of the blade over his face. "I like the colour of this one, slick. Now, are you going to get in or am I going to have to persuade you?"

They were still far too close to Rusty. He'd got in and she'd reached in after him, tying his hands and feet together. "Night, night, now, slick," she cooed, and the trunk slammed shut.

He had no idea where they were going. He'd tried to keep track of the twists and turns they'd taken, tried to visualise the city, but he'd become hopelessly lost almost at once. He didn't have Rusty's head for that kind of thing.

Not that it mattered so much where they were going as what was going to happen when they got there.

After everything they'd done to Jade...seemed likely that she was going to want to quietly put a bullet through his brain, and right now he wasn't at all confident of getting his way out of this. He took a deep breath. Whatever happened, happened, but he'd face it on his own terms, and if there was even the smallest opportunity, he'd seize it.

Who knows? Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd be pulled over by the cops.

Somewhere above him, over the roar of the engine, he could hear seagulls. They must be getting near the water.

A cold shiver ran down his spine. Maybe they were planning on dumping the car in the bay. He imagined the trunk slowly filling up with water, imagined pressing his face against the lid, desperately fighting for the last gasps of air. God, he didn't want to die like that.

The car rolled to a halt and he waited, breathless.

* * *

Rusty was desperately looking for a lead. _Anything. _He'd made some phone calls, but hadn't got anything useful back. Not even anything hopeful.

He'd headed for the bar that Jade had used. That was where she'd started, and he'd be willing to bet anything she'd gone back into the loansharking business to recover after they'd happened. So maybe...just maybe...

He was out of luck. The bar was closed. Boarded up and abandoned, and he stared at the shutters with a growing feeling of panic and frustration.

Damnit, he didn't have any _clue _where she was. No idea where she'd taken Danny, and time was everything here, because right now...right now...

The bar was boarded up. He couldn't be sure it was empty.

Looking round to make sure no one who cared was watching, he forced one of the boards over the window back and crawled inside.

Immediately he was greeted by a thick layer of dust and that wasn't a good sign. He still took the time to search the place from top to bottom.

Wasted the time. Danny wasn't here. _No one _had been here in months.

He kicked the wall viciously and ignored the cloud of dust and dirt that settled around him. This was useless. Jade was cruel and sadistic and she had Danny and she'd hurt him if she felt like it, and kill him in a heartbeat, unless Rusty did the impossible and somehow got him back.

Alright. So Jade hadn't returned to her old haunts. But she must be operating out of somewhere and someone had to know where that was. All he had to do was figure out _who _and ask them nicely.

* * *

The trunk was thrown open and the man reached down and ripped the duct tape off his legs before dragging Danny out.

He glanced around himself quickly. Docks. He could hear seagulls, and somewhere close by a group of people talking angrily. People. He could yell. Attract some attention. Except Jade and her friend were armed and ruthless. He didn't want anyone getting hurt.

"Get a move on, Wolf," Jade snapped. She was standing in front of a shipping container. Apparently that was where they were headed. Terrific.

Wait a minute...He grinned. "Wolf?" he asked the man. "Wolf...and Fox." He glanced over at Jade. "What, did you advertise for him specially? Henchman wanted, must have stupid name."

Wolf backhanded him hard in the face and growled.

"Guess, that's how you got the name, huh," Danny commented dizzily.

He was dragged over to the door and pushed inside and he looked around him, blinking. It was dark and he could make out the shapes of barrels and packing crates stacked haphazardly, but there was something...it looked like the floor was _moving._

With a little tinkling laugh, Jade snapped on the light and a swarm of spiders scuttled to the sides, vanishing under boxes and into dark corners.

"I hope you don't mind sharing accommodations, slick," Jade said carelessly, her eyes fixed on his face. Spiders had never been something that scared him...but there had been thousands of them, scratching over the ground, and it made him feel sick inside. Wolf slammed the door shut behind them. Jade stood in front of Danny and lightly caressed his cheek. "They have the place to themselves most of the time you see. I'm not here that often. Only when I have someone special I want to get to know better."

"Whatever happened to dinner and a movie?" Danny wondered.

Jade's eyes flickered behind him and Wolf shoved him in the back, pushing him forwards into the centre of the room, and there was a hook and pulley hanging from the roof. With a grunt, Wolf grabbed his arms and pulled them up and Danny kicked him hard in the kneecap and when Wolf's grip eased on Danny's wrists, he clenched his hands together and slugged Wolf in the face, and he was free and running for the door.

He heard the soft swishing noise.

Felt the impact slam into his arm.

Saw the blood splatter in front of him as he fell forwards.

Lived the pain.

* * *

The shop was still there at least. He stared for a moment at the narrow concrete staircase leading down to the entrance. Below street level and the windows were black with grime but the sign was just about still visible, advertising adult videos and magazines and marital aids, all under the care of Markie Fox, proprietor.

Didn't seem likely that Danny would have been taken there. But it seemed a good first step for further information.

He walked down the steps hurriedly, and surveyed the shop carefully. No one else in here. Perfect. Casually he turned and flipped the sign on the door to closed and threw the deadbolt. There. No one was getting in.

He sauntered purposefully over to the counter where Markie was lounging, his eyes fixed on the TV. "Jus' a minute," he mumbled. "'s getting to the good bit."

Rusty glanced at the TV. A plastic woman was being held down by a group of hairy bikers. Right. He dropped the rucksack to the floor and reached over and turned the TV off.

"Oy!" Markie objected, looking up quickly. He froze on seeing the smile on Rusty's face. "Look...I don't want trouble."

"Hello, Markie," Rusty said pleasantly. "I'm looking for your sister."

Markie stared at him blankly for less than a second before diving headlong for the phone.

Rusty grabbed it out of his hands easily enough, pulling the cord out of the wall and throwing it across the shop. "Just you and me," he told Markie.

With a snarl of desperation, Markie shoved him away and lunged for the shelf under the counter, and Rusty followed quickly, his hand clamping around Markie's wrist as he pulled the gun out from the shelf. They struggled with it between them, and it was pointing at the ceiling and Markie's finger was on the trigger. He couldn't let it go off, because someone might hear the shot, and that was the last thing he needed. He brought his knee up into Markie's groin and as Markie's fingers loosened, he pulled the gun away.

Clutching himself and wheezing, Markie stumbled back and fell to the floor in an ungainly heap at Rusty's feet.

Rusty weighed the gun thoughtfully. Huh. He glanced down and checked quickly but...gun wasn't even loaded. He tucked it into waistband of his pants anyway.

"Now," he said, looking at Markie, who was staring up at him with fear in his eyes. "Where were we?"

* * *

Pain. Massive and overwhelming, screaming through him.

His arms were forced high above his head and if he stretched, he could barely put his weight on the very tips of his toes. Extreme ballet training. It was a simple sort of agony.

The blood from his arm was splashing down into his eyes, and the wound was burning with bright hot agony.

She'd thrown a knife at him. Really, if it hadn't been _his _arm, he'd have been impressed. First time he'd ever seen anyone do that outside the movies. Sort of thing he'd want to tell Rusty about, if it wasn't the sort of thing he _never _wanted to tell Rusty about.

(_He might never get a chance to tell Rusty anything at all._)

"Comfortable, slick?" Jade asked from too close behind him.

He managed to suppress the shiver. He hadn't known she was there. It was getting hard to focus. Pain and blood-loss. He had to be careful. Had to hold it together. "I've been better," he admitted cheerfully. "Why? You gonna offer me a backrub?"

Predictably, Wolf snarled and punched him hard in the face, and he lost his footing, swinging backwards helplessly, all his weight hanging from his arms, and he'd swear he could hear muscles straining, tearing. Gritting his teeth, he managed to scramble to get his feet beneath him again.

That was when he felt Jade's hands pressing gently on his shoulders. "Perhaps I will," she murmured softly, and her hands trailed across his back, rubbing and massaging.

He tried to ignore the feeling of repulsion deep inside him at her touch.

"You don't mind if I remove your jacket, do you?" she asked after a second.

Danny's eyes flickered to his hands, tied above his head. "Feel free," he told her.

The flick of a switch blade sounded in his ears, and a second later the tattered remains of his jacket fell around his feet.

"A little better," Jade said thoughtfully, her fingers brushing intimately over the back of his shirt. "We both know why you're here." He could feel the tip of the knife at the back of his neck, then the breeze as it slowly ran down his back, slicing his shirt off him.

"I figured you're starting a tailoring business," he suggested carelessly as she pulled the shirt off him. "Looking for people to practice on. Though you might be going about it the wrong way."

There was a rich, deep chuckle and Jade stepped further forwards, pressed against him, and he could feel the warmth of her breasts against his bare back, and he'd rarely felt more afraid. Her hands snaked around his waist, seeking out his belt buckle, slowly undoing it and pulling the belt free.

"I don't like people stealing from me," Jade told him, her voice soft and breathy. "I don't like people thinking I can be tricked. You're going to help me salvage my reputation." She undid his fly, and he hid the shudder as she started to ease his pants down. It was a relief when she stopped suddenly, looking over his shoulder. "Want to place a bet, Wolf? Boxers or briefs?"

"Briefs," Wolf grunted.

She pulled his pants down over his hips and let them fall to the floor, giving a low whistle. "Looks like you lose out. Boxers." Her hands trailed over his ass appreciatively and he bit his tongue hard. "Black silk. _Very _nice quality. I guess being a thief pays pretty well."

"Oh, you know. It has its moments," Danny told her.

She walked round in front of him, still rubbing her hand over his boxers. "Not today," she said, meeting his eyes.

No. Not today.

"So I have one little question," she told him, standing back with a cold smile. "Two years ago you had a partner. You must remember him. Blond, pretty, gets dressed in the dark...you know who I mean."

For a split second Danny considered lying to lead her away from Rusty. Giving her a false name, a fake city to start from. But it wouldn't take her long to discover the lie and sometimes, no matter how careful you were, a lie could be unravelled into truth.

"I work alone," he said woodenly.

No details were best.

Jade clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Somehow I knew you'd say that. Still. I can't say I'm disappointed. By the time we're done you'll be happy to tell me everything. In fact, you'll be begging to tell me blondie's inside leg measurement."

He gazed back at her and let the stone cold defiance show in his eyes.

For a second she looked uncertain. Only for a second though. "Wolf?" she said, raising her voice.

Wolf stepped forwards, standing right in front of Danny, cracking his knuckles pointedly.

"Remember, one simple question," Jade said softly. "Where is he?"

Mutely, Danny shook his head. There was nothing in the world that could make him talk.

* * *

"Look," Markie said, his voice trembling. "We can talk about this, can't we? I think maybe you've made a mistake. I don't think I'm the guy you're looking for. I just sell entertainment, that's all. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I'm just here to talk about your sister," Rusty said.

"I...I don't have a sister," Markie lied beseechingly. "Please. You've got the wrong guy, I swear."

He stared levelly at him. "I don't think so. Your sister is Jade Fox. She's younger than you, taller than you, and she lent you the money to pay for this shop. And, since she didn't cut out your kneecaps and wear them as earrings, I'd say she likes you. Which means you can find her."

"She wouldn't do that!" Markie burst out indignantly, catching himself almost immediately. "I mean, I don't know her..."

"Think that showboat has sailed," Rusty said dryly. "So. Here's the thing. This morning your sister kidnapped my friend. I need to know where he is. That's all. Just tell me where she'd have taken him."

Markie pressed his lips together stubbornly, shaking his head.

Huh. That suggested that he knew something. He hadn't flat out denied knowing, he'd just refused to talk. A tiny spark of hope grew inside him. He _needed _to find Danny. Soon. Markie was the best lead he had.

He sighed and leaned back against the counter. "Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way..." He reached down and picked up the rucksack. "There's seventeen thousand dollars in here." As much as he'd been able to take out of their accounts with the ID he'd had on him. "You tell me where he is and it's yours. I walk away and you never hear another word about me again."

For a second there was a thoughtful gleam in Markie's eyes.

Take the offer, Rusty pleaded mentally. Just take the offer because it would be so much easier for both of them.

Mutely, Markie shook his head.

"Jade would never know anything about it," Rusty murmured quietly, trying to project a confidence he didn't feel.

It was the wrong thing to say.

"She's my sister," Markie snapped, and he threw himself to his feet, trying to lunge past Rusty, trying to run towards the door.

Rusty grabbed him and threw him bodily onto the counter, his hand on Markie's chest, pinning him down, and his fist smashed into Markie's nose, and the blood welled up immediately, and Markie cried out in fear and pain.

"One simple question," Rusty said and his voice wasn't his own anymore. "Where is he?"

* * *

Punches and kicks rained down and blood flowed after them. The pain was immense and inescapable, and each new blow left him gasping and fighting to choke back the cries.

"Where is he?" Jade asked, time and time again.

"Go fuck yourself," Danny snapped, struggling for breath.

He would never betray Rusty.

* * *

Punches and kicks rained down and blood flowed after them. The pain was immense and inescapable, Rusty was sure of that, and he could read every second of it in Markie's eyes. With each new blow, Markie was gasping, whimpering with pain. And he still wasn't _talking._

"Where is he?" Rusty asked, time and time again, as his fist crashed into Markie's face, body. He hurt and hurt and destroyed. "Just tell me where he is."

"Go fuck yourself," Markie mumbled incoherently. "My _sister..._I won't betray her."

"Yes you will," Rusty told him, stamping down viciously. "Because I'm not gonna stop."

Markie screamed.

For Danny. Oh, God. For Danny.

* * *

For the moment the punching had stopped. He hung awkwardly from the ceiling and the floor was slick with blood beneath him and his feet wouldn't take his weight now.

"You are stubborn, aren't you?" Jade chided. "All I'm looking for is his name. Give me that and maybe I'll let you go. After all, then I could make an example of him instead, and we both win."

He almost laughed. That was the opposite of winning. Anything for Rusty. Anything.

"Since you insist on being difficult," she said with a sigh, and the knife was in her hand again, and she reached up above his head and cut the rope attaching him to the ceiling, and he fell to the floor in an ungainly heap. In a second she was on top of him, taping his hands behind his back again, and he gritted his teeth as his muscles pulled and protested.

"While you and Wolf were having fun I've been having a look through this rubbish," Jade told him, indicating the clutter of barrels and boxes. "I want you to see what I've found."

Wolf's hand was on his neck and he was dragged forcibly to his feet, following behind Jade as she walked over to a particular barrel. With a grunt, Wolf pushed him against it and he looked down. Thick, black sludge glistened up at him.

"I've no idea what was in it originally," Jade said cheerfully. "But it looks like the rain got into whatever it was. Would you care to hazard a guess?"

"Coca cola?" he suggested with a smile.

"Perhaps," she grinned. "Why don't you have a closer look?"

The hand caught him in between the shoulder blades, shoving him forwards and instinctively he twisted, trying to escape, and he watched almost in a dream as fist met face and his blood sprayed across the barrel. "Where is he?" Jade demanded, and a second later he was being forced down into the gunk, and he barely had the chance to take a breath before it closed over his head.

It slipped against him, thick and viscous and disgusting, crawling into his eyes, his nose, and he struggled not to breath, struggled to get free, but he was just pushed further under, and the sludge burned at the cuts on his face, burned his eyes, and he was coughing, spluttering, _inhaling _and it was in his mouth, tasting like bitter death and gasoline, and he was swallowing it, drowning in it, and he couldn't breathe and he was going to die, Rusty, he was going to...

Unceremoniously he was pulled up and he gulped in mouthfuls of air, desperately coughing and gasping.

"Going to answer my question?" Jade asked.

He retched helplessly, coughing up what felt like gallons of the thick, black sludge. "I'm sorry," he wheezed. "What was the question?"

Jade gestured to Wolf and Danny tried to fight as he was dragged back to the barrel, as he was forced back into the black liquid.

Again, he lay on the floor, pain and nausea overwhelming him, and Jade's stiletto heel was pressing down on his chest. "Where is he?" she asked.

He managed to spit a mouthful of sludge over her shoe. "Still can't find Waldo on your own, huh."

Her face darkened and she signalled Wolf, and again he was forced into darkness again, tears stinging his eyes.

Rusty. Oh, god, Rusty.

* * *

Markie was crying. Rusty pretended he couldn't see it.

Right now he couldn't start to think about what he was doing. Danny was missing. Right now Danny could be...or...and Markie was the only lead he had. Markie _had _to talk, that's all there was to it.

In the meantime it was easier to pretend that he wasn't the one doing these things. That he wasn't the one holding Markie against his counter, that it wasn't his fist digging into Markie's ribs, kidneys, stomach, again and again and again, that the alien voice demanding answers was nothing to do with him.

He watched almost in a dream as fist met face, as blood sprayed across the counter. "Where is he?" the Voice demanded, harsh and inhuman and unfeeling. "Tell me where he is right now and I swear all this stops."

The only response was a muffled sob.

"Right." He drew his hand back, ready to hurt him again.

"Stop," Markie whimpered. "_Please _stop. I'll...I'll tell you everything I know."

_Thankyouthankyouthankyou_.

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly and he was lying on his back on the ground and his mouth and throat were burning, and he could feel the sludge drying on his face.

He hurt so much. Breathing was a struggle. Moving was impossible.

"Don't worry, slick," Jade said, standing over him, delicately planting her feet on either side of his hips. "Wash all this muck off and you'll still be good looking."

"Glad you think so," he said, managing to smile carelessly. "Who knows? Maybe if we're done here I'll go try and win ten dollars in a beauty competition."

Jade ignored him and there was a damp cloth in her hand, and she knelt down and trailed it over his chest and shoulders, stroking him, caressing him. "You don't seem to be responding to Wolf's efforts so I thought I'd try...something different." With that she grasped his boxers and pulled them off in one easy movement.

Danny bit his tongue hard, stifling objection, confusion and fear.

"My," she said, inspecting him carefully. "You certainly don't have anything to be ashamed of, do you?"

Right now shame was one of the emotions uppermost in his mind. Right along with pain and fear.

"Personally," she went on, reaching out and her inspection went from visual to tactile. "Personally, I prefer smaller men."

With an effort, Danny looked over at Wolf. "That why she likes you?" he wondered, and with a snarl of rage, Wolf kicked him in the mouth and Danny's head crashed back against the metal floor and the blood flowed down his throat, thick and copper tasting.

He coughed and looked up at Wolf. "Sorry," he said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Didn't mean to step on your overcompensation."

"I'll show you stepped on," Wolf growled, running forwards, his foot already swinging.

"Now, now," Jade chided, standing up and putting her hand on Wolf's chest. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Wolf." She held up her knife. "After all, I have _plans _for our clever friend."

She knelt down beside him, and her hands were on him again, trailing obscenely over his groin, and it might just be the least arousing feeling he'd ever experienced.

"Really, I hardly know you," he protested, and he was trying to kick her off, trying to get away.

"I told you, slick, your equipment just isn't to my liking," she said smiling, and the knife glinted in her hand. "Still, I'm sure I can do something to sort that out. We'll see how I feel after a little bit of..._whittling._ What do you think?"

His teeth dug hard into his lip. No screaming. No screaming and no fear, because this was gonna happen, he could see it in her eyes, oh, god, help him Rusty, this was gonna happen.

"Unless you want to tell me where your friend is now?" she suggested, watching his eyes keenly. "Even a name might be enough."

"Just a name?" he asked, his voice wavering.

"Just a name," she agreed, leaning forwards eagerly, her knife pressed against his crotch.

"There is a name I could give you," he said slowly. "I don't think it would hurt..."

"That's right," she said encouragingly. "Just tell me."

"The name...the name you should be worried about..." He was whispering and she leaned in close. "Zhuul," he breathed, in his best Ghostbusters voice.

Her expression didn't change. She sat back slowly. "I get the feeling you're not taking this seriously, slick."

"Blood, bondage, bodily mutilation..." He gave an approximation of a shrug and his arms screamed with the effort. "What's not to take seriously?"

She smiled. "Well, if we're going to play a game of Keymaster and the Gatekeeper, I'm going to have to see about improving on nature. But first I'm going to need to get a good view."

The knife scraped across his skin, over and over. Each little sweep felt like a violation, and he tried his best not to move an inch.

"Let's get rid of this pesky fur," Jade said cheerfully.

"Did...did you just say pesky?" It was a moment he almost wanted to share with Rusty. He could imagine the look on Rusty's face...except he could imagine the _look _on Rusty's _face _and Rusty would be begging him to tell her everything, anything, and in his head Danny smiled and reminded Rusty he never would.

She scowled at him, and the next stroke of the blade cut into him, just a little but he was crying out, a noise of pain and shock that he managed to stifle almost immediately.

"Think you've watched Crocodile Dundee one too many times," he told her in a voice that didn't tremble.

"Oh, grow up, slick," she sighed. "I could be using wax. Then you'd really have something to cry about."

He wasn't crying. He wasn't going to cry. The hair fell lightly between his legs and he stared at the ceiling and waited for her to be done.

And when she was done...

He could only imagine how it was going to hurt. How it was going to feel. Jade was going to cut him up and when she eventually figured out that he wouldn't talk she'd kill him. And then Rusty would go after her. God, he could only pray that Bobby or Saul or someone got involved. Someone who would stop Rusty from doing anything too stupid.

Should be him. He should be there to quell the fury. To soothe the storm and offer comfort.

"There," Jade announced, looking down at him, her smile vicious. "All done. Now I can see what I'm looking at. Should make it easier to cut you down to size."

He looked up at her, his eyes full of burning indifference. "Get on with it then."

She frowned and glanced back to his face, and he could see the uncertainty.

* * *

He propped Markie up against the wall and stood over him, doing his best to look intimidating. His arms were folded and he dug his thumb viciously into the crook of his own elbow. He couldn't afford to let the adrenaline fade even for a second. If he did, if he let what he was doing catch up with him then he was lost.

"So tell me," he demanded, scowling down at Markie.

"Jade's got a few places," Markie began. "She likes to keep moving these days."

Rusty wasn't surprised. "If she had someone she wanted to...hurt...where would she take him?"

Markie hesitated.

Rusty's fist slammed into the wall beside his head. "I said tell me!"

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you just...She's got a shipping container down at the docks. That's the most likely, I'd guess. There's an office suite and a motel she sometimes uses, but I'd guess the docks would be your best bet."

That sounded promising. Possibilities at last.

"Please. Don't hurt me anymore," Markie whimpered.

Rusty turned away quickly and started going through the drawers beneath the counter. "Give me the addresses and I'll think about it."

He listened to the addresses as he searched. Third door and he scored a box of shells. Just what he needed right now.

He loaded the gun and at the sudden noise, turned to face Markie. His eyes were fixed on the gun in Rusty's hand. There was a rapidly spreading dark stain on his pants. "Please...please...I told you everything..."

"This isn't for you," Rusty told him, as gently as he could in the circumstances. He reached over and snagged a pair of handcuffs off a nearby display. "These are."

He cuffed Markie as quickly as he could and stood to leave. Not like he'd hit the guy hard enough to need medical attention. Not like he could leave him free to warn his sister.

(_That didn't make it okay._)

As he walked towards the door he pretended that he was imagining the sobs and whimpers coming from behind him.

"Jadie...oh, Jadie, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Danny. This was all for you. Just hold on a little longer.

* * *

Jade was frowning thoughtfully and even though she wasn't wielding the knife, Danny still didn't think that was a good sign.

"You know I'll do it, don't you?" she asked, her eyes intent on his all the time.

"Oh, yes." He didn't doubt it for a second and inside he was screaming at the thought.

She nodded like this wasn't surprising. "And you're scared."

"Terrified," he admitted cheerfully.

"But you're still not going to tell me what I want to know," she mused with a sigh.

He said nothing. He was terrified of what she'd do but the idea of telling her...oh, that was a far worse fear.

"Most men are begging to talk after the first slice," she said, reaching up and grasping his chin, turning his head from side to side. "Before the first slice even. But not you."

Not him.

"You're not the right sort of scared," she concluded. "Not yet. Let's get you a little more softened up before the main event. Wolf!"

She stood up and went to talk to Wolf, and Danny closed his eyes, thankful for the reprieve, fleeting as it might be, and he was pulling frantically at the ropes round his hands, trying to get free.

He couldn't hear a word of the whispered consultation, but he heard the sound of Wolf's cruel laughter. Anticipation. That couldn't be good.

Moments later, Wolf picked him up off the floor, like a sack of potatoes, and threw him into a battered crate. With his legs curled to the side there was just room. "We playing hide and seek?" he asked brightly, and Wolf ignored him and vanished from sight.

O...kay. This was uncomfortable but not unbearable. He'd never been particularly bothered by claustrophobia. Struggling, he tried to stand up, but the sides of the box were too high for him to get purchase, and without his hands free it was just impossible. He was trapped. In a box.

Straining, he could hear Jade and Wolf moving around the shipping container, could hear hushed muffled voices.

What were they planning?

He bit his lip hard, filled with nameless dread.

* * *

There was a car sitting outside the shipping container and that was a good sign.

He prayed to any higher power that might watch over thieves that Danny be there. Fuck, let Danny be safe.

Three hours Danny had been gone. And that might not sound like a long time, but in the wrong circumstances it could be a lifetime. Or longer.

Three hours with someone like Jade...it was more than enough time for the permanent and the fatal.

He clenched his fists tightly. Danny _had _to be alive. There was no other option.

Okay. Shipping container. One way in, one way out, unless he found a _really _big fucking tin opener. And Jade had a ready made hostage and he'd be willing to bet she wasn't alone in there. They guy at the hotel had said she'd had a man with her. Two of them. At _least _two of them and the weight of the gun beneath his jacket was of little comfort. He went for the door he'd be dead before he got _close _to Danny. Or worse, he'd be alive and he'd have to watch Jade hurting Danny.

No, he had to find some way of getting them out of there and away from the container.

He looked around the harbour, searching for clues or information. There were more shipping crates lying around, a couple of large cranes, boats and boxes. No one working though. In fact, the only people in sight were a group huddled around a burning oil drum a little way away. He frowned, looked like they had placards. Some sort of strike, he guessed. There'd been an article in the paper about a dock workers strike...he'd been looking for the cartoons.

What he needed was a distraction. Something loud enough that Jade and whoever else would have to come out and take a look.

He needed to move fast.

* * *

Danny felt like his heart might just explode in his chest. Certainly it was hammering so hard that he was surprised that they couldn't hear it. Edgar Allan Poe time.

God, he wished he hadn't thought of that. Like his mind needed any help.

He had to calm down. He had to calm down because right now anticipation and imagination were driving him out of his mind with dread and that was what she _wanted. _She wanted him more frightened, wanted to break him down so by the time she came to start cutting bits off him he'd be ready to talk.

Long sweeps of the knife. Like whittling a piece of wood. Like sharpening a stick.

Oh, God, he was going to throw up.

He just managed to turn his head in time, retching helplessly, and the thick black gunk choked his throat. He could hear Wolf in the background, laughing.

He was shaking and he didn't think it was all the fear.

Rusty. He had to stay strong for Rusty. Right now, Rusty must be going out of his mind looking for Danny, and that meant that Danny had to survive, had to hold on, because if he died, Rusty would never forgive himself.

He'd hold on and there'd be a way out of here, and maybe he'd suggest that they take a vacation. Somewhere with a beach. Maybe one of those islands in the Caribbean, the playgrounds of the idle rich. They were rich enough, and right now he could do with some idle.

Yeah. He'd get over here and he'd say to Rusty over drinks in some little bar, and Rusty would smile and –

Jade was suddenly standing over him,, holding a large plastic bag.

She was smiling.

The bag was _moving._

"Thought you might be lonely, slick," she said cheerfully. "Here's some company for you."

She upended the bag over him, slowly tipping it out over his face, his chest, his legs, and a thousand, thousand scuttling things fell over him and he was _screaming._

* * *

Fifty dollars for a dirty overcoat and a woollen cap and Rusty was passing amongst the strikers like he belonged, and he'd brought along a couple of bottles and made sure everyone drank deep before he started talking. He was passionate and he was vocal, and people were listening.

"What do we want?" he yelled, and he had no idea but that didn't matter.

"Better conditions!" someone shouted back.

"More money!" another voice joined in.

"And are they gonna give it to us?" he asked.

"Fuck, yeah," the man next to him exclaimed, raising the bottle.

"Not unless we _make _them listen," Rusty told them insistently, leaning forwards, his fists raised. "We need to make more noise. Need to get the papers down here. TV even."

"They're not interested," someone in the back scoffed.

Rusty grinned. "News goes where the cops go. So we gotta make the cops sit up and take notice."

There was an uncertain mumbling, a shuffling of feet.

Danny was forty feet right now. Danny was counting on him.

"Look," he said, his voice soft enough that they had to move closer to listen. "We can do nothing if you want. We can carry on like we are, but we all got families to feed and in a few days...maybe a week...we'll slink back to work and management will know they can treat us like dogs. Is that what you _want?_"

The crowd were hanging on his every word. In fact, there were significantly more people her than there had been when he'd started.

"Or we can stand up like men," he went on. "Take the fight to him. Show them that we're men and we're not just gonna bend over for them. Now what do you say?"

His words were drowned out by a roar of approval and anger.

The first stone was picked up and thrown through the office window. For a second there was silence. Then someone else picked up another stone and the shouting wasn't going to stop.

Now here was an army. A loud, distracting army.

* * *

Spiders. Spiders all over him, their little legs like bristled pin pricks slithering over his skin, red-hot needles scratching across his face, and they were all over him, scuttling, scrabbling, every little moment repulsive and he couldn't escape and as he struggled and screamed, as his arms and shoulders scraped and crashed against the sides of the box, he felt the first bites on his thigh, his shoulders, his stomach, and after that he couldn't tell, and he couldn't stop struggling, writhing around, because they were filthy and all over him.

He felt a spider scuttling over his mouth as he screamed, crawling over his eyes into his hair. There wasn't a single part of his body he couldn't feel them scrabbling over, and he was screaming and he was crying, and God! Make it stop, make it stop. Rusty. Rusty, _please, _all he was asking for was a miracle –

The world exploded.

* * *

Rusty grinned darkly from behind the controls of the crane, as the police sirens screamed and the strikers shouted slogans.

Ten minutes to start a riot. That might just be some kind of record.

The cops were out in full force, evidently taking the phone call he'd placed seriously. Just let them be loud enough to attract Jade's attention.

His eyes were fixed on the shopping container. Just a few minutes longer, Danny. Breathlessly waiting, he saw the door open a fraction. Pictured them taking in the crowd, the blue flashing lights, and they wouldn't want to hang around, _surely _they wouldn't want to hang around... As he watched, Jade and the man walked out, looking from the cops back to the container and there was some sort of argument going on, some sort of discussion.

Rusty was already moving.

Levers and switches and he watched, heart in mouth, as the crane lurched forwards and picked up the container, swinging it around, barely two feet off the ground but taking it away from Jade, taking _Danny _away from Jade.

And Jade and the man were shouting, shock on their faces, and they were pointing at the container, towards the crane, towards _him. _Didn't matter. All that mattered right now was easing the container – Danny! – round to the other side of the crane and lowering it to the ground as gently as he could.

There was a crash as it landed and he winced as he scrambled out of the cab, sprinting towards the container. The door was still open and he ran inside, seeing the bloodstains on the floor almost immediately.

(_He wasn't too late. He _couldn't _be too late._)

"Danny!" he shouted breathlessly into the gloom.

There was a very faint moan. So soft that if it was someone else he might have thought he'd imagined it. But that was Danny. He knew that was Danny.

He ran to where he thought the noise had come from and found himself standing on spiders as they scuttled away to hide, and he didn't care because he could see...he could see...

Danny lay naked, crumpled on the floor, besides an overturned crate. Bruises and blood and filth covered him. He was still the most beautiful sight Rusty had ever seen.

He dropped to the floor beside Danny, quickly cutting the tape that was tying his hands together. "Danny, I'm here," he whispered, his hand resting gently on Danny's arm.

Danny looked up at him weakly. "I swallowed a spider."

There were more spiders here, crawling around them, and as he looked, he could see a couple still clinging to Danny's legs, another still nestled in Danny's hair. And Danny was covered in little bite marks.

He shuddered invisibly, and brushed them away as best he could. "Trying to catch the fly?" he asked lightly.

The laughter was tinged with hysteria and Danny was sobbing and wheezing.

"We need to get out of here," Rusty said, putting his arms around Danny and standing up, hoisting him over his shoulder. "And no, you're not getting a chance to decide if you can walk or not."

He ran out the door and he'd parked the car less than twenty feet away, but Jade and her friend were running towards them and the cops weren't far behind.

Car. He wrenched the passenger door open and bundled Danny inside, slamming the door and sliding over the hood, ducking into the drivers side. He'd left the engine idling and all he had to do was put his foot down and they were driving off before he'd even thought about it.

Three blocks before he was confident enough that they weren't being followed and he pulled into the side of the street, looking at Danny anxiously.

He could see the bruises. He could imagine the beating, savage and unstoppable, and Danny was pale and shaking his eyes closed tight.

Without thinking Rusty pulled his jacket off and draped it over Danny. He should start carrying a blanket or something in the car. At least a change of clothes for both of them.

As he tucked the jacket around Danny's shoulders, Danny reached out and grabbed his hand like he was never going to let go.

* * *

**So! Hope you enjoyed the fic behind door number 1. Keep a look out** **for the second part coming soonish, and more importantly, keep an eye out for InSilva's first contribution coming to an ffnet near you tomorrow! **


	2. Consequence

**A/N: Twelfth door of our advent calendar! Is that like the twelfth day of Christmas? Probably not. And here we have the conclusion of this two shot! **

* * *

Rusty was the only thing that cut through the confusion in Danny's head.

He remembered pain and screaming, and then the world had exploded and there'd been more pain, and for a while there was nothing and he'd been waiting. For Jade. Not for Rusty.

When he'd heard Rusty's voice...when he'd looked up to see Rusty beside him...for a moment it had been like the very first moment they'd met. He'd looked up to see Rusty and nothing else had mattered. Not Jade, not Wolf, not the pain and the fear and the spiders. There was only Rusty and that was enough.

And then he'd been in a car and he'd clung to Rusty, and he hadn't had to explain. The drive had lasted forever as the world had slowly darkened, and then somehow there was a bed with cool sheets, and Rusty was standing over him, bandaging his arm.

He opened his eyes and smiled sluggishly up at Rusty. "'m okay," he mumbled in response to the tight look on Rusty's face. "You got me safe."

Rusty flashed him a quick smile. "Doc's on his way," he said reassuringly, his hands not pausing. "Shouldn't be long."

Danny frowned. The haunted look hadn't faded from Rusty's eyes, and he reached out wonderingly and took Rusty's hand and the knuckles were bruised and split. "Rus'?" he asked uncertainly.

A sigh and Rusty raised Danny's hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. "'s okay," he said softly. "Just rest, huh?"

Didn't seem like it was okay. But a sudden coughing fit took him by surprise, and his chest ached with the simple effort of breathing, and Rusty was calling his name anxiously, but he couldn't answer. His eyelids were heavy and the pain wouldn't be denied, and in spite of himself, he drifted back into the darkness.

* * *

Rusty kept his head down and concentrated on washing Danny's blood off his hands.

Sounded crazy but he would swear he could feel his reflections' eyes boring into him. He deliberately didn't look up. Didn't think he could bear to and he couldn't decide whether he was more afraid to see that he looked different or that he _didn't. _

He stared down at the trickle of red staining the sink and he could see the blood and tears on Markie's face, could smell the acrid urine, could hear the broken pleas.

He closed his eyes. Danny was lying in that bed out there, safe, if not well, because he'd done that. Not like he didn't know it was worth it. Now all he had to do was lock it away, deep inside his head, and never think of it again.

His hand was almost burning where Danny had touched him.

Walking out of the bathroom, he brought a chair over to the bed and sat beside Danny, watching him sleep.

He'd called Stan the moment they'd reached the hotel, knowing perfectly well that Stan'd be too far away to help, but hoping there'd be someone close that Stan knew and trusted. Thankfully this one thing had gone his way, and Stan had given him Doctor Lambert's number. Competent and discreet and he could be here in an hour, and that was all Rusty cared about.

He'd called a couple of people he knew back in Memphis too. Made some enquiries. Found out enough to be certain that Jade wasn't going to be coming after them any time soon. And that was a relief. He looked at the evidence of what Danny had endured and viciously drove his fingernails into his own hand, until the tears stopped threatening to fall.

He should have _stopped _this, he thought, as he tried to ease Danny through a violent coughing fit. Surely he could have made Markie talk sooner. Maybe he was too squeamish.

Danny was pale and in pain, and his breathing was harsh and raspy and when Rusty had been getting him cleaned up he only found more injuries. When he'd seen the way Danny had been shaved, for a moment he was sure he was going to throw up. He had to force himself to look carefully. Checking for any sign that...just generally checking.

He should have been able to stop this.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing that Danny couldn't hear him.

The brisk knock at the door startled Danny half out of sleep and into panic, struggling to get out of bed, thrashing wildly, his eyes glazed and frightened.

"No!...she's found us...don' let her..._please, _don't let her..."

"Shhhh," Rusty soothed, his hand pressing lightly down on Danny's chest, trying not to hurt but frightened that Danny might hurt himself. "'s okay, Danny. She's not here. You're safe."

Danny almost managed to focus on him. "Rus'?" His voice was hoarse and cracked. "No, Rus', you need to get out of here. She can't...I can't protect you."

The guilt was a physical ache. Ignoring the second knock at the door, he lay down next to Danny and gathered him into his arms, whispering soft words of love and reassurance, and eventually Danny quieted and he could steal away to let Lambert in.

"You said it was urgent," Lambert said, sounding slightly irritated at being made to wait.

With as much patience as he could muster, Rusty nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. Come in."

He did so and as his eyes fell on Danny he sighed with a sort of weary resignation. "Well. Let's get started then."

* * *

There was someone here he didn't know. There was someone touching him and he didn't know who it was and he cried out as cold hands touched him, trying to fight, trying to escape, trying - "Rus'!" he screamed, and in a second Rusty was there, and he couldn't hear what Rusty was saying, but that didn't matter because Rusty was _there, _holding him, and that was a promise that he was safe.

He didn't feel safe. He was still shaking.

Shouldn't he feel safe?

* * *

"Your...friend...should be fine," Lambert said delicately, as he finished dressing Danny's arm. "He's got the beginnings of a chest infection of some kind, but I've got some antibiotics to help with that, and I'll leave you some topical anti-histamine for the bites, and some analgesia."

He nodded, not letting go of Danny, and watching as Lambert left the medication on the table and stood looking at him expectantly. "I've got some cash," he said after a second, realising what Lambert was waiting for. "Give me a moment."

He watched as Lambert counted it out and nodded approvingly. "I'll be back in a couple of days to check on him," Lambert said, gathering up his bag and coat. "Otherwise, if there's any changes or the fever gets worse, just call me."

"Thanks," Rusty said sincerely, showing the doctor out, before returning to Danny.

Danny had rolled onto his side, curled up tightly, his knees drawn up to his chest. Danny looked like he was trying to hide and Rusty couldn't bear it. He lay down next to Danny. "Hey," he said softly. "'s just us now. Doc's gone. Just you and me."

As he watched, Danny shivered violently, moaning slightly, and Rusty couldn't tell if it was fear or pain. Either way, he reached out and put his arms around Danny, uncurling him and cradling him against himself. God, what had been done to Danny...the grief and anger were warring inside him and part of him longed to go after Jade, to hunt her down, to _hurt _her.

Markie hadn't deserved it. Jade deserved so much more.

His fingers gripped Danny's arms tightly. Right now, he didn't want to let go. He wished he could take all Danny's pain away. Wished he could make everything better.

* * *

It was late and it was dark but Rusty was lying beside him so he felt safe. With a soft grunt of pain, he rolled over, wanting to be as close as possible. A couple of moments of warmth and reassurance, and he felt an itch on his stomach, and with a grimace of discomfort, he reached down to scratch it. His fingers encountered a lump under his skin, and he could feel movement beneath it, pulsating and swirling.

His eyes snapped open and he watched in horror as the lump crawled up his body, on his chest, and he was paralysed, couldn't breathe, couldn't _scream, _and as he watched the lump bulged, throbbing and pulsing wildly.

Then it burst and thousands of spiders erupted out of him, and he was submerged beneath the creeping, the scuttling. They were everywhere. They were all over him, _inside _of him, and he couldn't scream, he couldn't _scream, _but Rusty was right there, wasn't he? Rusty should have noticed, why wasn't Rusty helping him, getting them off him.

With unbelievable effort, he managed glance sideways just in time to see Jade's smile as she brought the knife down into Rusty's stomach and dragged it upwards, splitting him open and blood spilled over the bed, over him, and the spider legs were slick with it.

Now he could scream.

The spiders swarmed over his face and everything went dark.

He heard Rusty's voice calling to him through the darkness. He knew he was dreaming and he tried to answer, to find his way back, but he found himself dragged down into another nightmare.

* * *

Danny was slow to heal and Rusty wasn't _surprised _but he was worried.

The next few days he spent soothing Danny through fever dreams, feeding him ice chips, changing the sheets, applying the anti histamine cream to the bites, changing dressings, getting Danny to swallow painkillers...he didn't have time to eat or sleep or think.

Most of all he was there for Danny. Holding and loving and comforting.

He called the doctor twice more, as the fever got worse and Danny was wracked with harsh, unstoppable coughs. Lambert came quickly enough and he was thorough and reassuring and Rusty still wished that Stan was here.

The nightmares were constant and beyond horrible to listen to. Danny begged him for help. Screamed, and Rusty held him tight and listened to his pleas and shushed him and promised that he was safe.

When he closed his eyes, even for a second Danny's frantic cries faded into Markie's desperate terror.

He'd left Danny to get hurt.

He'd beaten Markie with his bare hands.

Eventually, despite his best efforts, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

His eyes were cruel.

* * *

Danny drifted along in a haze of pain and confusion.

He was dimly aware of Rusty, always beside him, aware of the constant attention. Again and again, he snapped almost out of nightmare to find a hand on his chest, arms or legs, rubbing bitter-smelling cream into him. He'd struggle a little, until he realised it was Rusty, then he'd lie still and the cream would soothe away the itch and the pain.

Every noise had him convinced that Jade was going to appear. Going to walk out of the shadows and start hurting him all over again.

He needed Rusty. Maybe more than he ever had before, and when Rusty left the room, even for a second, he was terrified beyond all reason. He opened his eyes on a blurry world, and he was alone and he hated it.

"Rus'!" he mumbled hoarsely. Jade must have found them. She'd found them and she'd got Rusty and he had to go find Rusty before Jade hurt him.

The floor came up and hit him hard and he tried to crawl away. He needed to find Rusty..."Rus'..." he said again, and everything was spinning.

Just before he got lost in the darkness again, he heard Rusty's voice, felt Rusty's arms around him.

* * *

Fourth day the fever broke.

He was rubbing cream onto one of the bites on Danny's face that he'd tore open earlier in his last moment of desperation, trying to get the spiders off him, and he suddenly felt Danny looking at him.

He glanced up sharply and Danny's smile was weak but his eyes were clear. "Hey."

He smiled, feeling the ache of relief. "Hey yourself. How are you feeling?"

Danny screwed his face up. "'m fine," he said.

"Liar," Rusty said softly. He could read the questions in Danny's eyes. "'s been four days. You've been out of it a while. Doctor's been by and you're going to be fine."

A pause and Danny nodded and Rusty had never known him this subdued before.

"Jade and the guy are in jail," he added, lying down beside Danny, his hand pressed against his cheek. "Got picked up and they found a bunch of outstanding warrants. They're not gonna get out anytime soon. We're _safe. _Both of us."

Danny nodded again, and he still didn't say anything, and Rusty curled around him, as close as possible, doing his best to let Danny feel protected. (_Loved._)

"You been looking after me?" Danny asked, after a long moment's silence.

Rusty shot him a look that was all about the _Of course _and the _Always _but what he actually _said _was "I know you'd rather have someone in a shorter skirt."

"I like you," Danny replied muzzily.

He grinned. "But in a shorter skirt, right?"

Danny nodded, his head burrowing into Rusty's chest. "Your knees drive me wild," he said.

His arms were tight around Danny and suddenly he felt so much less lonely.

* * *

Gradually he was starting to feel like a human being again. Took time though. Even with Rusty helping him every step of the way, it was a while until he felt up to getting out of bed, even to go as far as the bathroom. Though when he lay back in the bath, immersed in hot water and bubbles, the effort felt more than worth it. Even if it did make all his various injuries sting.

He still had long coughing fits that left him dizzy and struggling to breathe. The remains of some kind of chest infection, Rusty told him. Danny figured the black gunk hadn't exactly done his lungs any favours. The antibiotics would apparently clear that up. Really, Danny just took the pills when Rusty wanted him to.

Most of the time he spent sleeping or staring at the TV. Or reliving every punch, every touch, every second of painfearalone, and trying not to let Rusty see the nightmares. That never worked. Rusty saw every time, and he'd lie next to him, grasping his hand in silent support until the fear was soothed away.

He dreamed that Jade came back for them. Sometimes she wouldn't even look at him, she'd just gesture imperiously and Wolf would grab Rusty and haul him away, fighting and struggling while Danny watched.

Other times Rusty would be nowhere in sight and Jade would shove him backwards onto the bed, straddling him, cutting his clothes away, leaning in so close that he could smell her perfume, smell her excitement. She'd look into his eyes for a long moment, smiling and not saying a word, and no matter how he tried he could never prevent the soft _please _that bubbled out of him. When she heard that, she would laugh. And start cutting. And Danny would _scream._

He saw that smile all the time. Didn't matter if he was asleep or awake.

"You said that Jade was arrested," he asked Rusty as casually as he could.

Rusty looked up from his coffee. "Yeah," he said. "There were cops there when I got you. I'd called 'em to make Jade leave the shipping container. Anyway, she pulled a gun when she was chasing us and the cops didn't appreciate that too much."

He nodded, picturing the scene.

"Way Jonas tells it, they've got her on a murder charge, a couple of aggravated assaults and a whole bunch of smaller shit. None of it has anything to do with us." He looked at Danny keenly. "She's not coming after us."

"I know," Danny said. He did. It just didn't stop him jumping out of his skin every time there was a knock at the door. "She was looking for you," he said quietly. "That's what she kept asking."

There was a pause and Rusty's face was carefully neutral. "Danny - "

" - I didn't tell her anything," he said quickly. But he remembered the pain without end and fear beyond reason, and he _wondered..._

"I know," Rusty said, and there wasn't any doubt in his voice. Wasn't any suggestion in Rusty's eyes that Danny could ever have done different. "I know that, Danny. 's just..." He shrugged helplessly. "She was looking for _me._"

And now Danny understood, and he couldn't imagine how he'd missed the guilt before. "Hey," he said gently. "She was looking for you cos she knew there were two of us, that's all. 's not like she would've been any more gentle if I'd been alone."

Rusty didn't look convinced.

"And you saved me," Danny reminded him. "You came after me." A vague memory from the fever haze stirred. He frowned. "How did you find me?"

There was a very brief smile. It didn't reach Rusty's eyes. "Found someone who knew. Asked them."

"And they told you?" he asked.

Rusty just shrugged.

Danny reached out and took Rusty's hand in his, turning it over. If he looked carefully, he could just see the shadow of old bruises.

"He told me," Rusty said quietly.

Danny squeezed his hand gently.

* * *

Normally they'd be thinking of leaving by about now. No one was looking for them, Danny was over the worst of it, his bruises starting to fade, spreading green and yellow across him. Right now, though, neither of them were talking about going anywhere. The hotel was nice, the staff were incurious and more; they had nowhere else to be. No momentum. No grand adventure calling them on. No burning desire to get back in the game. Fall off a horse often enough, you had to start thinking that maybe the rodeo wasn't for you.

That was the thing; there was a 'normally'. Somewhere along the way they'd developed a routine for when one of them had been beaten half to hell. Oh, maybe it hadn't happened more than a handful of times, maybe it had never been as bad as this...but there was a normal. On some level he was used to seeing Danny hurt. Used to being afraid that Danny would die. Suddenly, he somehow wasn't so sure this was how he wanted to live his life.

Danny spent most of his time sleeping, whether in bed or on the sofa with the TV playing. After the first sign of uneasiness, Rusty made sure the light was on all the time. And he spent most of his time watching Danny sleep. Looking at the fresh lines of pain and _wishing... _He still couldn't sleep himself. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Markie's bloodied face. Saw the look of terror and confusion in his eyes. Every time the need to throw up got a little stronger. And if it wasn't that, he'd imagine Jade hurting Danny. The details might be nebulous, but he could see Danny's face. Hear Danny screaming, see all the pain he couldn't help with. Yeah. Sleep just wasn't gonna happen.

So he lived off coffee and necessity. Danny needed him, after all, and he needed to know that Danny was okay. Still felt sort of like Danny might just disappear if he looked away, even for a second. And more than that because he knew Danny was still hurting, knew Danny was still plagued by nightmares, and he was here to listen whenever Danny wanted to talk.

"She wouldn't stop touching me," Danny said quietly, and up until a second ago he'd been lying still in bed, pretending to sleep.

Rusty looked over at him quickly, fully able to hear the misery and revulsion in Danny's voice, and immediately he was thinking about the way Danny had been shaved. He reached out and laid a hand on Danny's shoulder, offering silent reassurance.

"Her hands were all over me," Danny went on his voice shaking. "And she said..." He broke off, his shoulders shaking.

Quickly, Rusty laid down beside him, pulling him in close, and Danny still wouldn't look at him. Awful possibilities were crowding in his head, and he wanted to go find where Jade was being held and find some way to make her suffer. "Did they - "

" - no," Danny interrupted. "Not really. She said she was going to..." There was a choked sob. "And her hand on my...oh, Rus', it made me feel like..."

He held Danny tightly, his hand pressed against Danny's face, trying to drive away all the horrors in Danny by force of will alone.

"And she had this knife," Danny went on a low voice. "Used it to, uh, shave me. Said she was going to make a few cosmetic changes."

His grip tightened as horror suffused him.

"I can still feel her hands on me," Danny added, his voice choked. "Like I can feel the spiders."

He pulled Danny over quickly, pressing close to him, and he held Danny long after the tears had stopped.

* * *

Rusty was always there for him and right now Danny needed that reassurance more than he ever had. Rusty was there, waking him up from the nightmares, holding him, and promising it would be okay. Rusty was sitting beside him when he nodded off on the sofa and woke up an instant later, convinced that Jade was standing over him. Rusty was there, watching over him when he woke in the middle of the night, terrified he was alone.

Rusty was always there, looking after him, coaxing him to eat, taking care of him in every way imaginable.

And that did kind of beg the question. When was Rusty sleeping?

Took a few days before Danny came to understand that Rusty _wasn't. _He wasn't sleeping and he was barely eating and Danny could see the deep lines of exhaustion on his face.

He had to guess, this had been going on since Danny got hurt and guilt raced through him. He should have noticed sooner. Shouldn't have let his own pain and fear blind him to what was going on with Rusty.

Thing was, he didn't know exactly what that was. He knew Rusty felt guilty for not saving him sooner, but they'd both felt that guilt before and it had never been like _this. _Although neither of them had ever been hurt this bad either. Maybe it was that.

"You want to get some sleep?" he suggested as it got dark.

"Nah," Rusty said, not looking round from the TV. "'m not tired. You go ahead though. You still need to rest."

Danny nodded. "You _are _tired," he pointed out.

Rusty tensed. "Can't sleep," he said briefly.

With a sigh, he placed a hand on Rusty's arm. "Can't you at least try?" he suggested hopefully.

"No," Rusty said, shaking his head. "Honestly, Danny, I'm fine."

"I don't think you are," Danny disagreed. He hesitated. "Is this...is it because I got hurt? Because you found me. You think anyone else could have..." He stopped dead. Rusty had flinched. He took a deep breath. This was about Rusty finding him. About _how _Rusty had found him. Not like he had forgotten that revelation. Not like he didn't know how that would affect Rusty. But he wouldn't have expected _this. _"When you were looking for me..." he said softly. "Who were you...asking?" He winced at the dark look of amusement Rusty shot him for the euphemism. But Rusty said nothing. "One of Jade's accomplices?" he suggested, and that had been his assumption. Used to be that Jade employed several guys like Wolf.

"Yes," Rusty said immediately. But he was lying.

Danny frowned. "Who, then?"

Rusty shook his head.

"Don't you think you need to talk about it?" Danny tried.

Even as he watched, he could see Rusty shutting down, could see the steel doors descending behind Rusty's eyes, closing him out. "I'm fine, Danny. 's done and I don't regret it."

Alarmed, he laid a hand on Rusty's arm. "You know - "

" - yeah," Rusty said, flashing him a smile. "I told you. I'm fine, or at least I will be. Just that I don't want to talk about it 's all.

"Yeah," Danny said quietly, and he supposed he could understand not wanting to talk right now. "Yeah." Truth was, it didn't feel like either of them was coping especially well right now. Maybe Rusty had the right idea. Just bury all these feelings in the back of his mind and never think of them again. After all, he didn't need to know exactly who and how to know exactly what Rusty had done for him, any more than Rusty needed to know exactly what Jade had done and how it made him feel. There had been pain and sacrifice, they both knew that, and there were things Rusty didn't want to talk about, just as there were things Danny didn't want to talk about and maybe they could just skip over the pain and go straight to the comfort. Because God knows he needed it.

With a sigh, he shuffled closer to Rusty and silently pressed in closer to him.

Rusty looked at him and took his hand without saying a word.

The room had dark corners.

* * *

Was beginning to feel like he was seeing the world through cotton wool or something. Felt like everything was laid bare, maybe. Felt _wrong _anyway. He was well aware that he needed to sleep. This had gone on well past the point that even _he _thought he was okay. But he couldn't sleep. If he closed his eyes even for a second...

_Punches and kicks rained down and blood flowed after them. The pain was immense and inescapable, Rusty was sure of that, and he could read every second of it in Danny's eyes. With each new blow, Danny was gasping, whimpering with pain. And he still wasn't talking._

_"Where is he?" Rusty asked, time and time again, as his fist crashed into Danny's face, body. He hurt and hurt and destroyed. "Just tell me where he is."_

"_Stop. Please, Rus', stop," Danny begged, the look in his eyes wild and bewildered and Rusty wasn't going to stop._

With a gasp, he jerked awake on the sofa and Danny was looking at him, half stood up, like he'd been rushing over to wake him. "You okay?"

"'m _fine,_" he snapped irritably, waving Danny to sit down again. A second later, he regretted it. Wasn't Danny's fault that he was worried, after all. Not like _he _wasn't worried about the fact that Danny still had nightmares every time he closed his eyes. He shot Danny an apologetic smile and Danny nodded slowly, his eyes not leaving Rusty's face.

This wasn't working. They were barely treading water here. They'd hardly said a word to each other all day, and okay, so they didn't exactly _need _to, but that wasn't the point. This hadn't been the comfortable silence of friendship. This had been the exhausted silence of having nothing to say. And it was hurting him, and it was hurting Danny, and all this was his fault.

He had to talk to Danny. Had to tell Danny everything he'd done, everything he was thinking, and he had to persuade Danny to share, and then, somehow, they had to remember how to move forwards.

He sighed. "Danny," he began, before he blinked and realised that Danny was on his feet, his hand posed over the bathroom door.

"I was just going for a shower," Danny said, shooting him an enquiring look.

"Never mind," he said with a smile. "It'll keep a few moments. Take your shower."

Danny nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. Rusty lay back on the chair and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to say. Exactly what he wanted _Danny _to say. Exactly how he went about admitting that he was no better than -

A piercing scream interrupted his thoughts. He was on his feet instantly. Bathroom. _Danny. _He forced the door open with his shoulder and he didn't know exactly what he was expecting to see, but it wasn't Danny huddled against the shower door, staring beneath the sink at a spider no bigger than his thumbnail.

Danny didn't even seem to realise Rusty was there.

"Don't...get them off...please don't..._please..."_

He glanced between the spider and Danny quickly, seeing the absolute terror in Danny's eyes, and the decision was immediate. He stepped towards the sink and brought his foot down with a vicious twist before approaching Danny slowly, clasping his hand tightly. "Danny, it's dead. You're fine. You're with me."

A couple of long seconds of anxiety while Danny stared right through him, and he could feel Danny trembling, but eventually Danny blinked and seemed to focus on him. "Rus'?"

"Yeah," Rusty said quietly. "You're fine. Come on. Let's get out of here, huh?"

Danny resisted the gentle encouragement. "There might be more," he said, and the fear and hesitation were painful.

Rusty looked at him for a second, reading the revulsion and the exhaustion, and he pressed his lips against Danny's briefly. "I'll check," he promised. "You stay right here."

He disposed of the dead spider quickly, and then searched the rest of the hotel room thoroughly, moving every piece of furniture, looking into every dark corner, making absolutely certain, and all the time he kept up a steady monologue, letting Danny know where he was, that he wasn't alone.

It was a good ten minutes before he walked back through to Danny. The fear had faded somewhat, and Danny looked embarrassed, but he hadn't moved.

"You didn't have to kill it," Danny said uncertainly.

Rusty shrugged. He hadn't wanted to, but if it made Danny feel safer...well, he was more than willing. "Come on," he said, shaking out a towel easily and wrapping it around Danny. "Let's get you taken care of."

He led Danny through to the bed, and Danny sat down heavily and looked up at him. "I thought...what's _wrong _with me?"

"Danny..." He shook his head and knelt in front of Danny, taking his hand lightly. "It's going to be fine. You'll be fine. You - "

" - just freaked out cos I caught a glimpse of one little spider," Danny said, his voice heavy with self disgust. "'m a coward, Rus'."

For a moment, Rusty just stared, certain he must have misheard. "_What?_"he demanded at last. "No!"

"Yes," Danny insisted. "I told you. Jade wouldn't stop touching me. And she said she was going to cut...she had the knife. She meant it. And I was scared, Rus'. I was so fucking scared. But she said I wasn't the right sort of scared, and they dropped me in this box and poured..." His eyes were distant. Rusty was hardly able to breathe. He squeezed Danny's hand urgently and Danny looked down at him and smiled remotely. "I screamed then too. Thought I was never gonna stop screaming. And I was begging her to stop. She said I wasn't the right sort of scared and that was cos it was for _you. _But I keep wondering..." Danny swallowed hard and his voice was a scratchy whisper. "If it had been something...or even someone...else. Maybe I would have...sometimes I think I might have - "

" - you wouldn't," Rusty said immediately.

Danny made a disbelieving noise. "How can you - "

Standing up, Rusty placed his hands on either side of Danny's legs, leaning in impossibly close. " - Look at me," he breathed, and Danny maybe didn't have a choice. "There is nothing that Jade could have done to you that would have made you tell her anything. You're the bravest man I'll ever know and nothing is ever gonna change that. Doesn't matter if you screamed then. Doesn't matter if you screamed now. Fuck, it doesn't matter if you scream every time you see a spider from now on. You lived through everything she did and came out the other side. You think I'm not proud to..." For a moment he couldn't speak. "You think I'm not proud?" He swallowed hard, his mouth dry and he carefully reached up and squeezed Danny's hands tightly. "You're not a coward, Danny. Not ever." He let Danny see every inch of his feelings, all the pride and love and terror and joy, everything he felt for Danny, and he didn't look away even after the doubt and self-loathing had faded from Danny's eyes.

"Rus', I - "Danny began.

Rusty leaned forwards and planted a kiss on Danny's forehead. "Hush," he commanded.

"Right." Danny smiled. "You know I don't take orders from you." Obviously exhausted, he lay back on the bed.

"You don't thank me either," Rusty said with a shrug, lying down beside him and everything felt a little lighter.

* * *

For a long moment Danny looked at Rusty, lying so close to him. Rusty's eyes were closed and if Danny didn't know better he might have thought Rusty was asleep. But he did know better. And they weren't done yet. Because he might feel better but -

" - Markie Fox," Rusty told him softly. "'s who I beat up."

Oh. Danny remembered Markie. He'd been a cowardly little weasel, but he hadn't been...he wasn't his sister. Not by a long shot.

"I needed to know where you were," Rusty went on, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. "So I punched him. Beat him. He was crying. Begging me to stop. I kept going till I'd made him betray his sister. Even made him piss himself, Danny. And none of it _mattered _to me."

The anguish in Rusty's voice was very real and Danny understood absolutely. If their positions had been reversed, he'd have done the exact same thing after all. And he wouldn't have regretted it for a second, no more than Rusty did now. But that didn't mean it didn't _hurt. _That...that wasn't who they were. Violence against the weak and the undeserving...they were never going to take pleasure in it. Couldn't just move on and forget it.

"Oh, Rus'," he whispered, his heart aching.

Rusty still wouldn't look at him. "Only difference between me and Jade is that I was successful," he said, his voice haunted and almost inaudible.

A whisper of fury ran through Danny, and without conscious thought, he rolled on top of Rusty, his hands lightly gripping Rusty's wrists. "Care to repeat that?" he asked dangerously.

Rusty looked up at him. "I didn't mean...but you think I would've stopped if Markie didn't tell me what I needed to know? You think I wouldn't have got..." An almost imperceptible shudder. "Creative?"

"Of course you would have," Danny said quietly. "Just like I would have. But it's never gonna be our first choice. Unless you're seriously trying to tell me that you went in there and just started - "

" - no," Rusty said fiercely. "But I went in there knowing full well that's where it would end up."

"It still wasn't - " Danny tried.

Rusty snorted. " - oh, right, you mean it's alright to torture someone as long as you're really, really sorry after - "

He was cut off abruptly as Danny leaned down and kissed him, offering strength and certainty and love and forgiveness. When they finally broke apart, Rusty stared up at him.

Danny smiled slightly. "You're still the same person, Rus'. It's not okay. It's never okay. But it isn't _you. _You are _nothing _like Jade."

"He begged me to stop, Danny," Rusty said, looking straight at him, endless misery in his eyes.

Danny didn't try to minimise it. "I know," he said softly and he held Rusty tight and he could feel Rusty shaking, could feel the emotion and the reaction, and he held Rusty close until it all fell away.

Later, and Rusty smiled up at him. "You know you're naked and on top of me, right?"

Danny grinned and folded his arms comfortably across Rusty's chest. "Yep. You objecting?"

"Of course not," Rusty answered immediately. "Just that you're a little heavy is all."

"Heavy?" Danny repeated with mock outrage.

"And with bony elbows," Rusty nodded pensively.

With a sulky sigh, Danny rolled off him and lay pressed against Rusty's side instead.

For a while there was silence. The comfortable kind of silence.

"D'you..." Rusty began, and stopped dead.

Almost asleep, Danny propped himself up on one elbow and looked at him. "What?"

Rusty sighed. "'s - "

" - something," Danny said firmly.

Rusty smiled slightly and looked intently at him. "Do you ever wonder if it's worth it?"

Danny tensed immediately. "Sometimes," he answered quietly. Sometimes like this week. More often when Rusty was the one battered and bleeding, and he was the one left to watch and think.

"She hurt you," Rusty said quietly. "And we have a routine for that."

"Yeah," Danny agreed.

Rusty looked at him. "I don't know that I want to have a normal way of acting when you get hurt. I don't know that I want to be sitting here knowing - "

" - there's a next time," Danny finished. There would almost certainly be a next time. There would always be a next time, right up to the point where there wasn't.

"'s not about - " Rusty said anxiously.

" - I know," Danny cut in. This wasn't about them, not really. He wasn't what Rusty was thinking of giving up.

All the bravado," Rusty went on. "We act like nothing can touch us."

Danny grinned. "You think that maybe we just aren't that bright."

"'s something to think about," Rusty said with a sigh.

He rolled onto his stomach and regarded Rusty seriously. "Look. We do what we do because it's fun, it's easy and it's what we do. What we've always done. But if you don't want to do what we do anymore, then I don't want to either."

Rusty was looking at him searchingly, clearly trying to see just how serious Danny was. And the answer was completely. "What would we do instead?" Rusty wondered.

A shrug. "Start a band?" he suggested.

Rusty grinned. "You can't sing and neither of us can play any instruments."

Danny shrugged again. "A punk band then. Point is, I don't care, Rus'. If this isn't what you want anymore, we'll find something else. Something...safer." The word tasted strange on his tongue.

"Something fun," Rusty added quickly, grabbing his hand. "I'm never gonna ask you to become an insurance salesman or whatever."

"Good," Danny said, smiling slightly. "Cos _everyone _wants to hurt insurance salesmen." He hesitated. "_Are _you asking?" He tried to make his voice as neutral as possible. He'd meant what he said. If Rusty wanted to get out the game, whether forever or just for a while, he was done too. Not like he could do otherwise. Because with this reasoning, Rusty wouldn't quit if Danny was still working. And, dentist appointments aside, Danny was never gonna force Rusty to do anything he didn't want to. But Danny wasn't altogether sure that _he _was ready to get out the game just yet. He waited breathlessly.

For a long moment Rusty struggled. "No," he said at last, but he didn't sound completely certain.

Danny bit his lip. "You sure?" he pressed, because just like he'd never want to make Rusty do anything he didn't want to, Rusty would never want to make Danny stop doing something he _did _want to.

Rusty smiled at him. "'s not about you," he said affectionately. "I don't want to be here again, but I think about hearing about someone like...well, someone like Jade...and doing nothing, or I think about never coming up with something like the Freeze Frame again, never seeing another plan through to the end..." He grinned. "Guess I'm really not looking to settle up just yet." He squeezed Danny's hand again. "I'm not asking, Danny."

Danny gazed deeply into Rusty's eyes, searching for truth, and Rusty wasn't hiding it. He smiled. "Good," he said simply. He lay down again, his head against Rusty's shoulder and sleep beckoned for both of them.

"Tomorrow, let's get out of here," Rusty suggested quietly.

He nodded drowsily. "Yeah. 's time. And I think - "

" - vacation," Rusty agreed. "Somewhere hot."

"Island paradise," Danny suggested, his eyes already closing. "Sand, surf - "

" - and drinks that come in coconuts," Rusty contributed.

"'xactly," Danny smiled. He gave it a few seconds. "Just pack your shorts this time."

He could feel Rusty smiling at him. "I'll get some speedos," he promised. "Just for you."

Danny laughed. Felt like everything was getting back to the way it should be.

* * *

**And that's the end! Thanks for reading, please review.**


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